Santa air mailed us a Christmas gift this year, Travis's family! Travis's parents, Scott and Cheryl Davis; his sister, Holly Davis; and Seth (brother-in-law) and Rebecca (Travis's sister) Lenker all flew from Kansas to Louisiana to visit us for a few days.
All our house windows were open and fans were circulating the muggy, seventy some degree air through our house in an attempt to keep us cool Saturday, December 22 when we got a call from Travis's sister Holly. A blizzard had hit Wichita.
American Airlines completely cancelled the remaining flights of the day and even the major highways were closed. The five of Travis's family whose flight was cancelled had to rent a car to get just 20 miles across Wichita to their home. The bravest of their driving friends didn't want to risk getting out in THIS blizzard.
Holly, being the savvy seasoned traveller she is, immediately booked the next flights out she could find, one that would put them in New Orleans at 11:00 p.m. the next night.
We greeted weary (but smiling) travelers at the airport Sunday just before midnight! Travis, the kids and I had all driven the "Davis taxis" down to pick them up. Sleep becomes second priority when aunts, uncle, grandma and grandpa are around, so the kids enjoyed talking to them during the forty-minute ride back to Ponchatoula. We all got to sleep around 2:00 a.m. that night and slept in a bit Christmas Eve day!
Christmas Eve morning was laid back, but the afternoon was jam-packed full of going, going, going! We got up and slowly got around in the morning and then ate lunch at home. Oak Alley Plantation was our next scheduled stop, so we got in the car and headed down highway 22 to make it just in time for the last scheduled guided plantation tour of the afternoon. The Davis taxis then motored around trying to find a place to eat Christmas Eve. An open restaurant is hard to come by Christmas Eve, so we settled for McDonalds then got back in the taxis for our last scheduled stop for the night, the Christmas Eve bonfires on the Mississippi River levee. (Read the previous blog for more info. about the bonfires.)
Happy, smiling kids and sleepy-looking, yawning adults met in the living room early Christmas morning to see what Papa Noel (Santa) brought. Opening presents was fun for everyone. We all sat down to eat a Christmas ham for lunch, then headed to Tickfaw State Park. A swamp walk, a romp on the playground equipment and playing pass with the boys' new footballs kept us busy at the park. Leftovers, a few games of battleship and a hand of cards finished off the night before we all went to bed exhausted.
Smelling fresh, looking carefully groomed and sporting our color-coordinated shirts, we all piled in the car at 10:00 a.m. the day after Christmas to go have family pictures taken at Portrait Innovations in Baton Rouge. We smiled pretty for the camera and survived the time it took to get a picture of EVERYONE looking at the camera and smiling. We drove to New Orleans and toured the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas before dropping off our guests off at the airport and saying our goodbyes.
I'm sure Travis's family is still recuperating from the fun trip, as are we! We had a fantastic time sharing our first Christmas in Louisiana with Travis's family. We love you all!
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